Dhamma-Sangani - THE GENESIS OF THOUGHTS - Good in relation to the Universe of the Formless

A BUDDHIST MANUAL
Psychological Ethics,
FROM THE PALI
OF THE
DHAMMA-SANGANI

Translated by CAROLINE A. F. RHYS DAVIDS, M.A.

[Chapter III.
Good in relation to the Universe of the Formless
(arupavacara-kusalam).
The Four Jhanas connected with Formless Existence
(cattari arupajjhanani).^
1. The Sphere of Unbounded Space (akasananca-
yatanam).]
[265] "Which are the states that are good?
^ These often appear in the Nikayas as the fourth to the
seventh of the Eight Vimokhas or Deliverances {cf. §§ 248-
250 ; Maha Par. Sutta, p. 30 ; A. iv. 306). Though treated
of in the Visuddhi Magga (chap, iii.), Buddhaghosa only
makes comparison with the account of them given in the
Vibhanga. In S. iii. 237, and frequently in the Majjhima,
they occur in immediate sequence to the four Jhanas
without any collective title, and not as concomitants of the
Fourth Jhana. There, too, the formulae also have this slight
variation from those in the present work, that the conscious
attainment of each stage of abstraction is expressed by a
brief proposition of identification, e.g., ananto akaso ti
. . . n'atthi kinci ti (It is boundless space! . . . There
is nothing whatever !). The Cy. explains this by a curious
quibble which is incidentally of interest (p. 204). It was
the wish of the Buddha to carry out, as in previous pro-
cedure so in this, the study of the Four Objects of Thought
[arammanani; see above, jp^issim, under {d)\. And the
first of these is that one's object is 'limited.' But if the
student, in attaining to an undifferentiated consciousness
of unbounded space, realize its nature by the, so to speak,
exclamatory thought, 'It is boundless!' he cannot logically
proceed to consider it as limited. If I interpret Buddha-


hen, that he may attain to the Formless heavens,
he cultivates the way thereto, and so, by passing wholly
beyond all consciousness of form, by the dying out of the
consciousness of sensory reaction,^ by turning the attention
from any consciousness of the manifold,^ he enters into
and abides in that rapt meditation which is accompanied
by the consciousness of a sphere of unbounded space
—
ghosa aright, an interesting significance is hereby added to
these parenthetical exclamations, which are not unfrequent
in Buddhist philosophy. They seem to imply an act of
conscious recognition.
^ The student is to withdraw all interest in and attention
to the world of rupa, to cease so entirely to differentiate
the ;plenu7n of external phenomena (including his own form)
which impinge on his senses, that sensations cease, or
resolve themselves into a homogeneous sense of extended
vacuum. Patigho, rendered by sensory reaction, is ex-
plained to be sight-perception, sound-perception, smell, taste,
and touch-perception. '
Thought is (here) not sustained
by way of the five doors ' (Asl. 201, 202). Hardest of all
was it to abstract all attention from sounds. Alara Kalama,
one of Gotama's teachers, and proficient in these rapt states,
at least so far as the sixth Vimokha (M. i. 164), was credited
with the power of becoming so absorbed that he failed to
see or hear hundreds of carts passing near him (Asl. 202).
On the psycho-physiological use of patigho, see the theory
of sense in the book on form, infra, § 597 e^ seq.
^ Nanattasannanam amanasikara. On the latter
term, see above, p. 5, n. 1. Nanattam is of rare occur-
rence in the Nikayas ; but see M. i. 3, where, in a series
of concepts, it follows '
unity ' and precedes *
the whole
'
(Neumann renders by Vielheit); also S. iv. 113, 114,
where it is explained to refer to the various kinds of sensa-
tion, the corresponding viiiiiana, and the resulting feeling.
In the Vibhanga, quoted by Buddhaghosa (p. 202), it is
explained to mean cognition of the mutual diversity or
dissimilarity (aiinamannam asadisa) of nature in the
eight kinds of good thoughts, the twelve bad thoughts
(below, § 365), as well as in those ideas of good and bad
results which are taken next to these. For cittani,
however, sanna is substituted, possibly limiting the appli-
cation of the discernment of diversity to the sensuous basis


even the Fourth Jhana, to gain which^ all sense of ease
must have been put away, and all sense of ill must have
been put away, and there must have been a dying out of
the happiness and misery he was wont to feel—(the rapt
meditation) which is imbued with disinterestedness, and
where no ease is felt nor any ill, but only the perfect
purity that comes of mindfulness and disinterestedness
—
then the contact, etc. . . . [c/. § 165] the balance that
arises, these . . . are states that are good.
[2. The Sphere of Inlinite Intellection (vinnananca-
yatanam).^]
[266] Which are the states that are good ?
When, that he may attain to the Formless heavens, he
cultivates the way thereto, and, having passed^ wholly
beyond the sphere of boundless space, enters into and
abides in that rapt meditation which is accompanied by the
of all those '
thoughts.' The context, nevertheless, seems
to point to a certain general, abstract, '
re-representative
'
import in saniia as here applied. It is said to be the
consciousness of one who is occupied with manodhatu or
with manovinfianadhatu—with, let us say, representa-
tive or with re-representative cognition—with ideas or with
cognition of those ideas. The ideation in this case is about
sensuous phenomena as manifold, and the abstract nature
of it lies, of course, in considering their diversity as such.
^ In the text the formula of the Fourth Jhana remains
unaltered (c/. § 165). But it is sandwiched between the
cumbrous adjectival compounds referring to space and to
disinterestedness. Hence some modification was necessary
to avoid uncouthness of diction.
^ Strictly viiinananancayatanam. The usually elided
syllable (rulhi-saddo) is noticed in the Cy. (205).
^ K., here and in the two following replies, has the gerund
samatikkamma, following the usage in the Nikayas (see,
e.g.,!)., M. P. S., 30; M. i. 174, 209; S. iii. 237, 238;
A. iv. 306). Buddhaghosa apparently reads samatik-
kama (2^5), as is the unvarying case in the first only of
these four arupajjhanas.


consciousness of a sphere of infinite intellection ^
—even the
Fourth Jhana, to gain which all sense of ease must have
been put away, etc.
[Continue as in previous section.^
[3. The Sphere of Nothingness (akincannayata-
nam).]
[267] Which are the states that are good ?
When, that he may attain to the Formless heavens,
he cultivates the way thereto, and, having passed wholly
beyond the sphere of infinite intellection, enters into and
abides in that rapt meditation which is accompanied by the
consciousness of a sphere of nothingness—even the Fourth
Jhana, to gain which all sense of ease must have been put
away, etc.
[Continue as in § 265.]
[4. The Sphere where there is neither Perception nor
Non-perception (neva-sanna-nasannayatanam).]
[268] Which are the states that are good ?
When, that he may attain to the Formless heavens,
he cultivates the way thereto, and, having passed wholly
beyond the sphere of nothingness, enters into and abides
in that rapt meditation which is accompanied by the con-
sciousness of a sphere where there is neither perception
nor non-perception 2
—even the Fourth Jhana, to gain which
all sense of ease must have been put away, etc.
[Contifiue as in § 265.]
^ The only explanation given of a term on which one
would gladly have heard Buddhaghosa expatiate is, *
There
is no end for him in respect to that which has to be cogi-
tated' (^t^., minded ; manasikatabba-vasena) (Asl. 205).
On the next stage, too (§ 267), no light at all is thrown
(p. 206).
^ Buddhaghosa explains this mental state as the cultiva-
tion of the functioning of the subtle residuum of conscious


The Four Jhanas connected with Formless Existence
may be developed in sixteen combinations.
syntheses (sankharavasesa-sukhuma-bhavam). In
so far as perception (presumably understood as being wholly
introspective) has become incapable of effective functioning
(patu-saniia-kiccam), the state is non-perceptual. In so
far as those faint, fine conscious reactions are maintained,
the state is '
not non-perceptual.' This oscillation about
a zero-point in consciousness is illustrated by the similes
quoted (not from this Cy.) by Hardy {oj). cit., 264), namely,
of the bowl containing just so much oil as suffices for
cleansing purposes, but not to be poured out ; also, of the
little pool, sufficient to wet the feet, but too shallow for a
bathe. Both oil and water exist, or do not exist, according
to what action can be taken with respect to them. The
Cy. adds that this liminal point obtains not only in sanna,
but also in feeling, thought, and contact (208). The study
of the '
threshold ' of consciousness, and of the supra- and
sub-liminal grades clustering about it, is familiar enough
to the investigator in psychophysics. What is unfamiliar
to us is the exploitation of the borderland of consciousness
in the interests of ethical growth. Leibnitz might have
found in the neva-sanna-nasannayatanam, had he
had opportunity, the inspiration for his theory of petites
perceptions.